Page 417 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 1991
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this city - a system that will be accepted by the community and by the political parties. We need a system that will have the confidence of people. In short, we need a system that has real authority. The danger that we face is that we could have the d'Hondt system this time around, a Hare-Clark system later, a single member system later still. We could change from system to system, and that would be disastrous for the image of this Assembly and for the status and prestige of the ACT. We need a system that will be firmly established and established with authority. It is the case, I believe, that a referendum is very much the best way to go in order to achieve that, so that it does have wide approval and as large a consensus as can be gained in this town.
The Labor Party is most prepared to accept this. We have confidence that the community wants a single member system, but that is beside the point because we will accept what is thrown up should a referendum proceed. Mr Speaker, they are, in particular, the two reasons why I think we ought to support the referendum proposal. I think it is important that we go down that path.
MR MOORE (9.14), in reply: Mr Speaker, I wish to say thank you to members for their support. I believe that this is a very important day in the history of this Legislative Assembly. I think many people will look back and see that a unanimous resolution along these lines was, indeed, very significant. I believe, Mr Speaker, that this resolution will assist in bringing more pressure on members of the Federal Parliament - that is the intention of the motion - to provide the people of the ACT with an appropriate say in matters that affect them so considerably.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (9.15), by leave: I move:
That this Assembly -
(1) welcomes the Federal Government's stated intention to repatriate to the people of the ACT - through its elected representatives - the power to determine their own electoral arrangements;
(2) calls on the Federal Government to initiate action forthwith in order to repatriate this power;
(3) expresses concern at the Federal Government's apparent intention to abolish preferential voting in the ACT and calls on that Government to preserve this democratic principle in the existing legislation.
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